Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-05-07

these men say am drunk. crazy or deliri
Gus. | am none of these. and they hat
me. Tonight saw that horrible rat, anC
for the time. il drove me mad. 1t was tht
first had seen for twenty years, for hav,
made it the business of my life not TO see
them since|that awful time. Shall | tel
ycu of it?'
looked at Norton. Listen 10 his yarI
if yoJ want to-" he said, swinging the grea
door to lis place with a clank,
but reckon you must think
your tine is awful cheap. I've got some
work TO do, and Pm going back TO the Of
fee. Here's chair. Now. you keep quiet
in there, No. 10. or ~ put the coat on yoa
again. Here's chair, young Buckeye
this with friendly glance at me-''i'm
going"
His footsteps echoed out through the
| quiet iail. II was midnight. was alone
with the ned prisoner and the mangled
body a. rat he had killed As looked
| at ii. another rodent crept in, smelt Of the
body. and catching it in his sharp teeth.
| scurried away with it to feast. The man
| inside the cell did not see this. | was glad
he lid not. But | was sorry the jailor rad
| vet sta I'd and listened to the mans scken-
Ing tale. for ! have often since regretted
that rther ears had not heard it with mine.
Sometimes wher | think of it now, | ask
myself. did ! really hear it. or was it the
rraatioE of fevers
When Nol.on'S steps had died away, the
prisoner peerad out at ne from between the
bars was struck at once with two things, the
perfect whiteneSs of his hair, and the fact
that ore ear. the left, was missing. He
Hatcfed me- narrowly moment, shud-
dered and then began:
THAT you may not think me mad or
drunk. will tell you my story. As you
may nave concluded from my speech. | am
Freedman. | was bO.l y Paris, am 81
years old, and am named Jean Piereau.
l'y father lied on Rue des -. and was
connected in some capacity with the police
service Of the city. a fact of which | was in
teusely proud. We lived in a poor quarter
OF the great city, and early developed con-
siderable aptRess in ferreting out the petty
crimes which nay father was assigned to in
vestigate. In so doing. l naturally gained
the iii-wil of the qGmin. street thieves and
ha6i.Les of the low resorts of the metropO-
lis. Bat was strong. active and fearless.
and did not think of danger.
One night-one horrible night
was walking alone in the worst
Quarter Of all Of wicked Paris Suddenly, |
Nd> >SlEth lIclh DtllIuu. StIICh DTutdl
blow across the left temple and sunk into
wha a mercy It would have been.
~ think | was in swOon for about an
hour. Teen [ was half-awakened by
dull, grating noise, and the clank of heavy
iron. A Moment more was brought back
TO the full, horrible, mental activity of ter
ror. by dense, sickening odor-so foul. so
thick with Nth, that no tongue can describe
it. knew instantly where l was. | had
heard of such frightfri cases before, but had
laughed at them. An instant later. Shrek
ing, fighting, biting. alter lately praying to
and cursing my tOrsdrers, l was dropped
bodily through a man hole into the IN
speakable filth and corruption Of one of the
great sewers OF Paris. The fall was not
great and l was saved from injury
by alighting in the thick ooLe
a d slime washed from the
eat cii,. looked up snd saw the stars
above sn"t out as the grating was retuI led
to its place.
~ sEouted and screamed and cursed. No
answer. | listened COr a reply. What was
that? Was it aiming? Surely not; for
no ra'n coUid ever reach this underground
catscomb Of the city's filth. What then
was that soft. swashy paiter growing more
distinct every moment? l called again.
TIE lead and buried echo OF my oWl en-
tOn5ed voice was all heard, end it was
supnichral and weak, for the thick, horrible
atmosphere o! the sewer made it sound as
dead as the falling of clOds on coffin. But
at the sound of my voice the patter in
creased. as though the rain was growing
stronger. 1t sounded on all sides of me
now, and caused a steady noise, like the
gurgle OF agitated water up and down
the length of the great sewer. Appalled,
with nameless horror tnined as II TO
flee and strove TO eXtricate myself from the
filth in which | stood up to my knees.
reached aud placed my hand against the
vail, but my nneers slipped through the
horrible slime and l fell forward on my
face. As did so my cheek struck against
something spongy, cold and awful. Ii
weighed out from under my face and glided
away. Then | knew it was one of the
creepy, sickening things commonly known
a. angleworms. but which, bred in the filth
of A great sewer, attain the size and repul-
sileneSs of monster snake. managed
at last to scramble out of the slime and
reach the side of the sewer, which was lit
tie higher and dryer than the center of that
sickening current of filth. The patter that
had at first mistaken for rain had
grown so distinct that the whole sewer
reSouuded with it like the buildings of a
monster cauldron of oil. was not left In
doubt long as to the nature of this new
horror. The patter was the noise made by
millions Of little feet through the semi